The present invention relates generally to user interfaces in computer systems and more particularly to a graphical user interface method and system for assisting a user with the task of viewing documents in non-directed arrangements, such as pages on the World Wide Web.
User interfaces exist for a variety of well-known Internet retrieval and display programs, called browsers. Browsers present data retrieved from the World Wide Web in a display area on a computer display screen. Browser user interfaces come in a wide variety of functional and appearance embodiments that differ from one supplier to the next. A browser interface may be customized to a certain degree but cannot be replaced completely. For example, a browser may have a menu bar or tool bar whose contents can be changed, removed or arranged differently to suit the needs or taste of the user. Also, some browser user interface components can be customized by referencing new executable code. However the basic structure of the user interface remains the same, since only specific functions can be customized.
Users can view pages on the World Wide Web by entering a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) into a field of the browser user interface. The browser will then fetch the web page corresponding to the URL from the appropriate server. Each received URL has data contents, called a web page, that are processed and presented by the browser either through use of its own facilities or through use of facilities provided by the operating system under which the browser is executing or through other applications executing concurrently. The web page can contain any mixture of text, graphic imagery, pictures, sounds and even motion picture information. Web pages also include links to other web pages. Links appear to the user as text that is highlighted in some manner, such as underlining. Each link is associated with the URL of another web page on the World Wide Web. By selecting the link with the mouse or other pointing device, the user can move to the web page corresponding to the link.
FIG. 1 depicts a representative user interface for a typical browser application program as is commonly provided for use with personal computers, work stations, multiple computers in a client server arrangement and personal digital devices. Browser applications such as the Netscape Corporation's Navigator TM or the Microsoft Corporation's Internet Explorer TM are well known in the art. The browser interface of FIG. 1 is displaying some representative data from a source associated with a URL. A user will normally employ the user interface to browse all the data content received from a source on the World Wide Web associated with a URL. The user interface is typically a static array of functionally selectable icons, scrollbars, typing fields, buttons and the like, a display area and control functions. In FIG. 1, a display screen 1 has a display area 2, shown within the dotted line, for displaying the web pages, and a user interface control area 3, which can include a plurality of buttons, such as button 5, and a plurality of pull down menus 6. A scroll bar control 4 enables the user to scroll through the page in display area 2.
Browsers commonly known in the art have user interfaces that display only one page at a time, providing little or no information about web pages that could be browsed by selecting a link from the displayed page. Attempts have been made to provide users with information about other web pages that are linked to the current web page. One approach is to provide a URL field that displays the URL associated with a link whenever the user passes the mouse pointer over the link. URL field 8 is an example of such a field. As the user moves the cursor 10 over link 7, the contents of the URL field 8 changes to reflect the URL of the link 7 to “http://www.widget.com/home.html.” Another approach is to provide an “alt tag” field that contains further textual information that is displayed in a pop-up bubble when the user moves the cursor over its associated link. For example, in FIG. 1, pop-up bubble 11 displays the contents of the alt tag field, “Widget's Home Page” in response to the user's having moved cursor 10 over link 7. While these approaches provide the user with some indication of what to expect from the next web page, there is heretofore no method of giving the user a “glimpse into the future” of what the pages pointed to by the links of her page have in store.
What is needed is a method for providing users viewing a non-directed collection of documents information about documents related to the document currently being viewed.